Taboo Game Introductions

Teacher Notes for Mitosis, Meiosis and Fertilization Vocabulary Review Game

In this version of the Taboo Game, each group of 3-5 students receives a deck of 18 cards, face down. One student takes the top card and gives clues to help the other students guess the target word in the black box on the top of the card. In giving clues, the student may not use the two taboo words listed below the target word. These taboo words have been chosen to help students remember the meaning of the target word, while still providing sufficient vocabulary choices for the student to give the biological clues needed for the other students in the group to guess the target word. Students should be instructed to use only biological clues (e.g. no "sounds like" or references to popular culture). The person who guesses the target word correctly gets the card and takes the next card from the deck to give clues to the other students. Once the deck is completed the student with the most cards is the winner. Alternatively, two students can play together and there will not be a winner (or loser).

To prepare a deck for 3-5 students, photocopy both pages in the game file and cut nine cards per page. We recommend making each deck on a different color heavy paper or poster board, so you can easily identify which cards belong in which deck. If you are printing on white paper, you may want to identify the cards in each deck by using a different color marker to make stripes down the outside edges of each deck.

The file for the game cards is a Word document, so you can easily add, delete or change the vocabulary to match the vocabulary you want your students to learn. You may also want to combine this cell division deck with the deck for the Genetics Vocabulary Review Game; if you do this you should be aware that the target words gene and allele appear in both decks.